Pagina's

27 januari 2011

As much as I love winter for its cosiness and snowy beauty, enough is enough for now… Rain, wind, cold, leaving for work and coming home in the dark, my body needs lots more sun and daylight!

I feel the need for the first sign of spring, the moment every year you come outside and there it is… It surprises you one day when you least expect it…

That first smell of spring, it holds the promise of all things good, great weather, sun, longer days, being outside, cocktails, new life appearing in the garden and the flowerpots,…

If I have to name one moment, one exact specific time every year I feel absolutely and completely happy and totally zen, that’s it! I just love to stand outside and take deep breaths, just enjoying and smelling the spring in the air!

23 januari 2011

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend! Mine started off with a nice surprise on Friday. When I got home after work, I opened the letterbox and found…

an envelope from Holland!

Could it be? Was it the one I won on Ingthings giveaway? Yes, yes, it was!

In the envelope was a cute postcard, a little crochet flower and a vintage flower card on top of the wrapping paper.

After opening the paper, I found the gorgeous red and black fabric!But wait, there was more… Vintage ribbons and beautiful buttons completed the treasure!

Oh, how I love buttons!!!

Thanks Ingrid!!! I absolutely love the presents you sent me!!! The postcard is already hanging on my fridge, so I can look at it every day and smile because of its cuteness… ‘You brighten up my day’ Yes, you sure do!!

9 januari 2011

One of the projects on my 10in11 list is my crochet ripple blanket. I’m making this with 100% cotton yarn (Drops Paris), it’s about 90 cm wide and the plan is to make it around 1.8 meters long.After the math, I’ve still got 1.5 meters to go. So the ‘tadaa-post’ on this one will probably be posted around Christmas, since I’m doing one ripple every night.But, because I can't wait so long, I’m posting a kind of sneak preview!

I’m using 12 different colours, so matching them to get a nice colour scheme is a bit tricky (at least for me…). Thankfully I’m not the only one who suffers from a ‘vision-your-colours-how-they-match-together-defect’ and that’s why somebody invented a really cool stripe maker!

Now for the ‘how-to’: the blanket is completely based on Lucy’s neat ripple pattern, which is a really simple and gorgeous way to get loads and loads of colourful waves…Lucy from attic24 is one of my inspirations when it comes to crocheting, she makes the most wonderful blankets, pillows and decorations with only a hook and some yarn.

This blankie is still so not ready, but I’m already excited about my next big crochet project! Chances are I’m starting it while I’m working on the ripples.

5 januari 2011

Just watched ‘Miss Potter’ on TV. I’ve never seen the movie before, but I liked it a lot. Renée Zellweger stars as a fantastic Beatrix Potter. The story has a semi-happy ending, so if you’re in a emotional mood, it’s best to have tissues within reach. I really love Beatrix Potters drawings and stories! So cute, little bunny’s and ducks… When I see people who can create such beauty with just two hands and some tools, I feel so jealous! That’s probably why I’m exploring my creative side more and more recently. Not by drawing, children’s drawings are way better than mine, but by crocheting and learning how to use my sewing machine. Hopefully someday I can create some cute things myself…

3 januari 2011

Just a quick post while dinner’s in the oven… Really tired, so easy solution, deep-frozen pizza!Today I had my first day at my new workplace. So exhausting! At my previous job I had some really really good co-workers, but the way the work was structured and sadly the superiors too made working there not so fun. So I made the decision to leave and apply somewhere else, still in the same building, but a totally different department. Also my working hours will be less variable, less weekends so my biorhythm will hopefully benefit as well!Only downside is, I’m back at the bottom of the class now so to speak, have to learn everything from scratch. But it’s a nice stimulus for the brain cells, so I can keep them trained… The next few weeks will be challenging but hopefully I’ll enjoy the work and I’ll be happier there. Sadly, I will miss my favourite co-workers dearly, luckily I know I’ll see them regularly! Today they came by my new ward and gave my a good luck present with lots of ‘we’ll miss you’ cards. So after dinner, I’m going to read them all. I’ll put a box of tissues nearby, just in case!

2 januari 2011

A few weeks ago, travelling in the Wondrous World of Blogging I stumbled onto this great idea from Peachy. She made a special blog where people could post their good intentions for 2011. There are only 2 conditions: it must be a list of 10 creative projects and you have to blog about every completed item on your list. So, I talked it over with myself and decided to post my 10in11 list.Because the blog is in Dutch, I translated my post in English and will also post about my results here.

Hello social control!I am so glad I found you all… Plans, plans, ideas, more plans, it’s all stuck in my head for the moment. So hopefully with all those superblogladies waiting for results and applying some gentle pressure and motivation, I will have those projects finished in turbo-mode…

So, my 10 in 11:- Start my blog. It’s been on my mind for quite some time now, but I guess I don’t have to introduce you to Mr. or Mrs. ‘Puttingthingsoff’, do I? Fortunately I fiiiiiinally decided on a name, after numerous rejected propositions: Zjizjipke! (And if you can read this post, I achieved this one: the blog is born!)- Make heating pads with seeds or grains. The biggest issue here is: find suitable grains… Been to the market, the health food store, still looking for the best kind.- Make a skirt for myself with the fabric bought at the thrift store.- Make a fabric or crochet bunting.- Sew the Cath Kidston bag with the fabric included in her book.- Make a cover for the cats pillow (think dimensions of a dog pillow, yes she’s spoiled…)- Finish my crochet ripple blanket: beautiful, colourful waves, still about 1,8m to go.- Crochet flowers, flowers and more flowers.- Make a skirt from an old pair of jeans.- Knit socks (at least 1 pair) for myself.

Hopefully I succeed in finishing these projects in 2011…Love, Zjizjipke!

1 januari 2011

Welcome! Welcome! Please come in!Take a seat and have a cup of tea and a biscuit too. And for those who partied hard last night, I have some paracetamol...Welcome everyone in my own, little home in the enormous World of Blogging.The last few months I discovered this unknown, but beautiful and friendly place. I secretly followed some of the most inspiring, creative and sweet people who already are sharing their ideas and much more with all of us. Soon the urge to join in and make my own blog grew.So here it is, my little baby-blog, hopefully she (I think my blog is a girl, she’ll be girly, sweet, chatty but sometimes may experience some PMS…) will grow into a gorgeous full-grown blog someday.In the mean-time please excuse the growing pains, while I tweak and alter some bits and pieces and find my style so to speak. I’m starting the blog in English, to allow non-dutch speaking people to (hopefully) enjoy my ramblings as well. It’s not my mother tongue but hopefully spell check will prevent me from making really, really awful mistakes.What am I going to talk about? Well, every minute of every day thoughts are flying in and out of my head like colourful butterflies, so this will be al mix of things creative, homemade, yummy, green, frugal, beautiful, funny and so on. There’s so much I want to do, read, create and experience, so I’ll try and let you all join in!Feel free to comment and share your thoughts with me about my posts or whatever you want to talk about…